Maternal Instincts
by mysticladyrachel
Summary: Set in same time line as "Thrill of the Chase". Inuyasha and Kagome have to investigate a series of thefts. What happens when the thief ends up stealing their hearts? And how far will a hanyou go when her maternal instincts kick in?


"Have you seen the thief?" Kagome asked the headman as they walked down the narrow street of the village.

"No. It sneaks in at night and ransacks the houses," he replied, his voice quivering with some emotion. She couldn't tell if it was fear or anger, "Then the other day, my son heard a noise and went to see what it was. He managed to corner the thing in the pantry, but when he tried to grab it... it attacked. He nearly bled to death. This thing is dangerous, whatever it is... Please, miko-sama, you have to stop this monster before it hurts anyone else."

"We'll do what we can," Kagome agreed. She was dressed in her priestess garb and her hair was done in an intricate style that covered her ears. It made things easier, when they were outside their home village. People who needed their services would often accept a miko and her hanyou companion. Two hanyous, however, were seldom well received. It was a good thing her miko clothing was so loose, because her stomach had begun to swell as the child in her womb continued to grow. This would likely be the last mission she went on until after the baby was born.

"What sort of things have been taken?" asked Inuyasha gruffly.

The man looked at him wide-eyed as though surprised he was actually speaking, "Well... um... mostly food, but there has also been some clothes and other household items to go missing. And a painting."

"Was the painting valuable?" he asked.

"Not particularly. It was just a painting of a woman who used to live in the village. She was my wife's sister. She lived in the forest with my father-in-law and made medicines and poultices. She died a few years ago, and her father passed away just last spring. Do you think it relevant?"

Inuyasha didn't answer. He just stared at the ground as they walked, deep in thought.

"We'll need to have a look around and talk to some of the villagers. And we'd like to talk to your son, if he's recovered enough," said Kagome as they approached the headman's house.

"Yes. Of course, we'll cooperate in any way we can."

They probed a bit more for information, but the headman either didn't know anything else or didn't wish to tell them, so they finally took their leave of him to begin scouting out the village.

"It's not stealing anything overly valuable, so it's probably not a regular old thief," said Kagome as they searched the parameter of his house.

"No," said Inuyasha pensively.

"I wonder why it took the painting. The headman said it wasn't valuable."

"Just because something isn't worth a lot of money doesn't mean its not valuable," replied Inuyasha.

Something in his tone gave Kagome pause, "Do you have some idea as to what's going on here?" she asked.

He locked eyes with her, and in those golden orbs she could see some deep inner turmoil, something old and painful, had suddenly been swept to the surface. After a long pause he said, "I have some ideas. I've got a really bad feeling about all this, but... I can't be sure. We should look around and see what we can find."

Kagome wanted to discuss it some more, but her husband didn't seem willing. She decided she'd try to get him to talk later.

At the back of the house they found the first clue. Foot prints. They looked like paw prints to Kagome, but Inuyasha showed her how if one walked on tip-toe so that the heels didn't touch down, his feet left similar, but much larger, prints. So their thief was human in shape, and small. It had attacked the headman's son and left claw marks, so probably not a human. Possibly a small youkai breaking in to steal food and other supplies. It was midwinter, and it had been particularly cold. They were having a warm snap at the moment, but it probably wouldn't last. Food was scarce, and such conditions were exactly the sort of thing to drive the wild youkai to theft. So they were dealing with a small, hungry youkai. Providing they could find it, it probably wouldn't be that big of an issue. They might even be able to solve the problem without violence.

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"Tell me exactly what happened," Kagome said softly. The boy was about twelve years old, and he looked pretty awful. He had deep claw marks across his chest and right arm which were wrapped in bandages. A few shallower scratches ran across one cheek, and his skin was horribly pale.

"I heard a noise in the kitchen. I knew something had been stealing food. Most people said it was a raccoon or something, so I wanted to go catch it. I followed the sound to the pantry and I saw it hunched down eating some of our sausages. I yelled at it and it growled at me. Then I swung my stick at it and it attacked me. I didn't get a good look at it, because it was dark, but it was really fast and had sharp claws," the boy explained with an enthusiasm that was at odds with his appearance.

"Is that all?" Kagome asked.

"Um... it was white. That's the only reason I could see it in the dark, and it was pretty big. Came up to here on me," he said, holding his hand up to the middle of his chest.

"Alright. Thank you, Kito. You've been a really big help."

She stood and walked back out the screen door to where Inuyasha was sitting. He looked like he was sleeping, but she knew he'd been listening to the whole thing.

"Penny for your thoughts," she said, smiling.

"What's a penny?" he asked, cracking one eye open.

"It's a type of coin. Just a saying. It means 'what are you thinking'."

"I think we don't know a whole lot more than when we started."

"Yes we do. We know what it looks like and that it's probably just a little youkai who's stealing because the winter has made it hard to find food," she replied.

"And how do we find this little youkai?" he asked harshly.

She sighed heavily and slumped back against the door frame, "That I don't know. Do you think we could track it?" she asked hopefully.

"If we had a fresh trail. Maybe if it comes back tonight we can track it back to it's den," he said, closing his eyes again. Kagome thought that was as good a plan as any.

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The warm snap came to an abrupt end that night. A chill breeze rattled the doors and windows of the room they were staying in. Kagome sat by the fire slurping on a cup of ramen. Ever since she'd transformed, she'd become addicted to the stuff. She guessed it was just a hanyou thing. She kept glancing at the door, waiting for Inuyasha to come inside. It was really too cold to be outside right now, and the air smelled of moisture. She feared a blizzard was coming, and she really didn't like the idea of her husband being out in that weather. True to form, though, he had insisted that he needed to keep watch to see if 'the thing' showed up again. She had just finished her ramen when the door to her room slid open.

"It's here," he whispered

"What?" she asked, rising and walking to the door.

He stood alert, ears flicking in different directions. He touched her hand and she shivered at how cold his skin was.

"I saw something moving near one of the houses. I think it's our thief. I'm going to go investigate."

"It's really cold out there. Don't you think we should wait until after this storm has passed?" she asked. The storm hadn't even started yet, but she knew it was coming. Her nose was never wrong.

He shook his head, "No, I don't think so. We need to take care of this quickly and go home as soon as we can. I can go alone if you'd rather..." he said, almost hopefully. She knew it was just concern for her and the baby that motivated him to make that offer and not a lack of confidence in her abilities, but she couldn't help being slightly offended.

"I'm coming with you," she said firmly.

He sighed and nodded, but he dutifully led the way outside, "If we do this quickly, we might be able to beat the storm," he said before leaping quietly up onto the roof. She quickly shouldered her pack and followed. The two of them stalked quietly across the house tops and circled around to the house where he'd seen the thief. They didn't even have to wait, because just then, a small shadowy figure, cloaking in what looked like a huge mass of blankets slid silently out of the house and scurried into the woods. The two hanyous jumped down and began to silently track it.

The forest was bleak. The trees looked skeletal without their leaves and the sky was dark with storm clouds. A stiff wind blew, but luckily they were downwind of their target. It's scent was strangely familiar, but neither of them could quite place it. They caught a glimpse of it every once in a while, but the blankets it was carrying made it look like a little walking haystack. There was no way to tell who or what it was. Then the wind picked up and snow began to fall, just a little at first, but then harder and harder. They lost sight of their thief and had to track him by his prints in the snow. Eventually the snow even obscured those, and they were walking practically blind through a blizzard.

"We need to find shelter," shouted Kagome over the wind.

Inuyasha nodded and continued to plow forward. Just when Kagome thought they were lost and doomed, Inuyasha grabbed her arm and pulled her after him. They eventually ran right up against the wall of a hut. They had to feel around the edge of it to find the door, and when they found it they quickly slipped inside.

"Wow," murmered Kagome dropping her pack on the floor, "How lucky is this? What are the odds of finding this hut in the snow storm?"

"Pretty good, I'd say, since the thing we were following headed right to this place," said Inuyasha, gesturing to the small chest in the corner. A trail of disguarded blankets were scattered across the floor in that direction. Kagome had been so relieved to be out of the storm, she hadn't noticed the small sound coming from behind the chest. It sounded like something panting or maybe shivering.

"Hello?" she called softly as she slowly walked towards the chest.

"Be careful Kagome," was all Inuyasha said. He looked very nervous and concerned.

"Don't be afraid. We just want to talk to you," she said gently. She was almost halfway across the room when the growling started. Kagome was surprised to find that to her ears it wasn't just a growl. On some instinctive level, she understood it. :'Stay back. I'll bite you.': it said.

Inuyasha made a woofing sound behind her that her instincts translated to :'show yourself':.

The growl again, louder this time, and she could smell the tangy scent of fear in the air. This was bad. The poor creature was cornered and scared, which meant it was even more dangerous than usual. She considered leaving and coming back later, but the snow storm outside made that impossible. She concentrated for a moment, searching deep into that part of her brain that was her still unexplored inu-youkai side, the part of her that was pure instinct, and after a few moments she found what she was looking for. She made a series of whines and soft 'whoofs'. She added the human translation, "We're friends. We want to help you" before repeating the inu version a second time and adding the little sound that meant 'safe' at the end.

A small whine came from the chest, :'Not attack?':

:'Not attack': she and Inuyasha confirmed in unison.

Slowly, the little form came out from behind the chest. The first thing she saw was a pale golden head followed by a tiny body in a white kimono. A small, bushy tail stuck out of the bottom of the kimono, and on top of the head were two small golden ears. The little creature looked up at her, and Kagome gasped in shock. It was a little girl, gaunt from lack of food and very, very dirty, with sparkling blue eyes. She'd seen eyes like that before. Kouga and the other members of his pack had the same shining blue eyes. Suddenly she knew why the scent was so familiar. It was a blending of wolf youkai and human, similar to the blended scent she and Inuyasha had.

"She's a hanyou," she said, shocked.

"Yeah," he grunted, like he was speaking around something lodged in his throat.

This child was a wolf hanyou, no more than five or six years old, and she was cold, hungry, scared and alone. Kagome placed a hand on her abdomen, feeling the slight flutter of her own little hanyou inside her growing belly. Where was this poor child's parents?

:Pack?: she heard Inuyasha ask behind her in an echo of her own thoughts, "Where's your momma, kid?" he said in a voice that was far more tender than usual.

The pup let out a long whine that had no translation except for sorrow. After a long while she answered, very softly :No pack. Alpha male dead. Mother dead. No pack. Alone,: and then she began to cry, a very human sort of cry, and wail "MOMMA!... GRANDPA!..." over and over again. Kagome felt like she was going to break. Tears streamed down her face as she listened to the little girls piteous cries. She slowly walked over to the child, and since the child didn't run or try to attack, she knelt and pulled the crying child into her lap and wrapped her in a few of the disguarded blankets. When she finally looked at her husband, he had turned away to face the wall, his ears lying flat to his head in a show of anxiety.

"Inuyasha," she called softly. When he turned his head, she could see tears rolling freely down his cheeks. Without needing to ask, she knew that this was what he'd feared earlier when they had been investigating. Somehow he'd known. Lifting the child, she carried her over and sat down next to Inuyasha. She soon had two crying hanyous clinging to her. A golden haired little girl clutching her shirt and screaming for her momma and grandpa, and a silver haired man holding her in his arms and silently crying into her hair.

The three of them must have fallen asleep at some point, because Kagome woke later to the howling of the wind outside. Inuyasha was in the middle of the hut trying to light a fire, and the little girl was asleep in her lap.

"Inuyasha?" she called softly.

"Yeah, Kagome?" he called over his shoulder.

"Are you... alright?"

"I will be."

She watched as he stirred the fire to life and sat a small pot of snow on over the fire to melt and boil, one hand absently stroking the tiny golden head that lay against her breast bone.

Just then the little girl in her lap began to stir. She snuggled for a moment into Kagome's shirt, but suddenly realized Kagome wasn't familiar, and pushed her away with a startled yelp. The child scurried back across the room and hid behind the chest as she had the night before.

"It's alright little one," Kagome called softly. "We won't hurt you. It's safe. You can come on out now."

This didn't seem to reassure the child. After several long minutes of trying to coax her back out to no avail, Inuyasha did something that she could only just barely grasp the significance of. He turned and moved toward her on all fours, woofing what roughly meant :'Safe. Pup safe': He approached her slowly, repeating that over and over. The little girl sat still and watched him from the corner of her eyes, ears flat to her head. When he reached her, he bend down so they were eye to eye, and they sniffed each other. After a moment, she looked down flipping her hair forward in a way that bared the back of her next in submission. Inuyasha grunted an acknowledgement, and the girl rose back up. Then, Kagome watched as he licked her several times on her nose and forehead, :'Pack-sister': he huffed loudly.

After a long pause, she lifted her head and licked the bottom of his chin and huffed back :'Alpha -male': then, turning to look at Kagome :'Alpha-female':

Kagome smiled and replied :'Pack-sister': then in human language, she said, "Are you hungry, little one?" she held out a piece of smoked venison from her pack. Almost too fast to see, the child scurried forward, snatched the meat and scurried away.

"Fast little thing," Kagome said, watching her bolt down the food. She felt a slight pang of sorrow to see how she crouched and hid to eat, "So, what just happened?" she asked her mate, who had come to sit beside her.

"We accepted her into the pack, and she acknowledged us as pack leaders. She's family now."

"Really? That was easy," Kagome mused

"Dogs and wolves are a lot simpler than humans."

"So, did we just adopt her?"

Inuyasha shook his head, "Not exactly. She's part of the pack, so we take care of her, but we aren't her parents. Pups like her are cared for by the whole pack."

"Like Shippo," said Kagome, making the connection.

"Yeah."

"What should we do with her? I guess we could just take her to Sango and Miroku's orphanage or even take her in ourselves, but she has family here still," said Kagome as she poured the now boiling water three little cups of ramen.

Inuyasha's ears flicked forward in silent confusion.

"Think about it. She said her mother and grandfather died. She lives in the woods, like the headman's father-in-law and sister-in-law did. She stole a painting of the woman, and you said yourself that being worth money isn't the only sort of value. I think the painting was of her mother, Inuyasha, and that makes the headman her uncle."  
"That doesn't change anything. She should come with us," said the male hanyou gruffly.

"But if her family wants her..."

"They won't. Trust me."

"But, Inuyasha..."

"Look, Kagome," said Inuyasha, turning to look her in the eyes, "You haven't been a hanyou very long, so you don't know what it's like. No one wants us. This kid is lucky she wasn't drowned at birth. Even if the headman might have taken her in before, he certainly won't now that she's injured his son. Kagome, look at her. She's starving. If someone cared about her, they've have done something before now... Look," he said, looking down at his clenched fists, "this kid... she's me! When I look at her I see myself when I was her age. I know what I'm talking about, Love. We cannot leave her to the mercy of those people."

"They're her family, Inuyasha. We have to at least give them a chance."

"Keh! Then you handle it. And may her blood be on your hands!" he shouted, he made as if to storm out of the hut, but the snow hadn't stopped yet, so he settled for sitting huffily by the door and brooding.

"Never mind him, little one. Come here," she waved the child to her adding softly :'Come to alpha-female':

The child stood and walked to her calmly. It seemed she really did consider them family now because she didn't seem the least bit shy or afraid anymore. Kagome told her to sit in her lap and handed the girl one of the cartons of ramen. Then, drawing a brush from her bag, she went to work on her charge's matted hair. At first, the girl snatched the food and ran back to hide, but Inuyasha went and gently picked her up and carried her back to Kagome. She added her assurances that no one would take her food, and eventually the child settled down and ate her noodles.

"So, little one, do you have a name?" asked Kagome, running the brush through the long golden locks. When they weren't tangled, they fell all the way to her hips in a very impressive mane. She needed a bath badly, but she was still a very pretty child.

"Yukiko," the child replied between slurps of noodles.

"That's a lovely name. My name is Kagome, and my husband's name is Inuyasha," she said cheerily.

"Husband?" asked the girl in surprise.

"Yes," chuckled Kagome, "Inuyasha and I are married."

"But he's a hanyou... like me. Grandpa said hanyous don't get married," said the child, looking from her to her husband and back again. Inuyasha made a gruff noise she couldn't quite interpret.

"Some do. Besides, I'm a hanyou myself," she said, and reached up to remove the pins that held her hair in place. Once her tresses fell free, her black ears were easily visible on top of her head, and the little girl's mouth dropped open in something akin to awe, "But I wasn't always," Kagome added, "I was human when I married Inuyasha. It's a pretty interesting story. I'll have to tell it to you sometime."

"Wow!" said the girl, blue eyes wide. Kagome smiled at her and gently rubbed one of the girl's little velvet ears.

"Finish your food before it gets cold, Yukiko," she said gently, and the girl was quick to obey. After she'd eaten all her ramen and half of Kagome's she again fell asleep in the woman's lap.

The snow had stopped falling by the next morning, for which Kagome and Inuyasha were very glad. Kagome warmed some more water and gave Yukiko a gentle sponge-bath to make her more presentable before taking her to see her relatives. Then she put her hair back up in it's pins, and they were ready to go. Before they left the hut, however, Yukiko insisted on going through the chest and picking some of her "treasures" to take with her. She pulled out a mountain of trinkets and baubles, but in the end a small ivory hair comb that belonged to her mother, a little stuffed wolf toy, and the painting rolled up with the frame missing were all she decided to keep. She showed Kagome the painting, and she noted that except for the hanyou features, the girl looked exactly like her mother. Finally, with Kagome carrying her pack and Yukiko riding on Inuyasha's shoulders, the trio of hanyous headed back to the village.

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The headman wasn't home when they arrived. Apparently a member of the village had been caught out in the blizzard, and most of the men had gone to search for them. The person that greeted them was the headman's wife.

Before any of the adults could say anything, Yukiko leaped from Inuyasha's shoulders and ran up the steps yelling "Momma." The child must have caught her scent, though, because just before she reached the woman, the girl skidded to a halt and bolted back to them to hide behind Inuyasha, shivering in fear and muttering, "Not Momma."

The woman didn't look pleased, "What is this?" she demanded coldly.

"This is Yukiko. We found her at your father's old hut. Madam, we think she may be your sister's daughter," Kagome said smoothly. She'd hoped to be a bit more tactful, but she honestly couldn't think of anything else to say.

"And is she the one responsible for the break-ins?" the woman asked with a trace of disapproval in her voice.

"Yes Ma'am. Yukiko, is there something you'd like to say?" she asked, guiding the little girl to stand in front of her. She'd coached the child in what she was to do on their way back.

"I'm very, very sorry," said the child, bowing low to the ground.

"A hanyou," the woman said, just the barest hint of displeasure leaking into her serene tone, "I knew my sister had dallied with one of the local forest spirits, but I was not aware she'd borne his child."

"It seems your father had kept her hidden, Madam," replied Kagome, "We thought you should be appraised of the situation. We would like to see that Yukiko is properly taken care of, and since you are her next of kin, we defer to your judgment," Kagome said, hoping she was being properly tactful. This was a very awkward situation, and the woman's cool demeanor was not making it any easier.

The woman's eyes flicked momentarily to Inuyasha, who was standing silently at her side. He hadn't spoken a word since the previous night's argument.

"Yes," said the woman at last, "I know my duty, miko-sama. The child will be, as you say, taken care of. You may leave her in my care. Here is your fee," she said , handing the bag to the little servant girl at her side, who brought the pouch to Kagome, "Do you need someone to show you the way out of the village?" she asked with a forced looking smile.

"No ma'am. We know the way," replied Kagome. Before turning to leave, she knelt next to Yukiko and spoke to her softly, "Now, Sweetie, I need you to be good for your Aunt, alright? This is your mother's sister, so she's pack and she'll take care of you. Be a good girl and behave yourself. I'll come see you in the spring to see how you're settling in, okay?"

"Okay," whimpered Yukiko, but as Kagome and Inuyasha walked away, she changed her mind and began yelling loudly, "NO! NOOOOO! COME BACK! NOOOOOO!" She wanted to chase after them, but her aunt had walked up beside her and had a firm grip on her little arm to hold her back.

They hadn't made it far out of the village before Kagome began to have serious misgivings about what they had done. The woman, despite being the child's aunt, obviously didn't care for her. Perhaps Inuyasha was right. Perhaps they should have just brought Yukiko with them. They could have given her a good home, a family, a little sibling. Kagome knew the little wolf-girl would have been very happy with them, but she could not be so sure of her life here in her Uncle's village. She had to fight the urge to run back and take the child away with her. That sweet little girl who had managed in just one short day to wriggle her way into Kagome's heart.

They came to a bend in the road, and Inuyasha startled her by breaking his silence, "I guess you can change back into your fire-rat now," he suggested calmly.

Kagome was a little suspicious, but since she really did prefer her green fire-rat clothes, she did as he suggested. She ducked into a nearby group of bushes and shucked off the miko attire. She dug through her bag, pulling out and donning the various pieces of her outfit. It was identical to Inuyasha's red one, except that it included a tight fitting breast band to go under her kosode and a wide obi that wrapped several times around her waist, cinching it in and accentuating her feminine curves. The yoikai who made it told her the style was typical in the lands across the western sea. She dug around searching for her daggers, the twin blades named Kira-Akari, but they weren't in her bag.

"Inuyasha," she called to him as she emerged from the bushes.

He turned toward her and swiveled his ears in her direction to indicate he was listening, but said nothing.

"I can't find my daggers."

There was a long pause before he finally said, "Maybe you left them in the village."

"Maybe." she answered begrudgingly. The daggers were probably hidden inside his haori. Even if they were still in the village, she knew _**she**_ hadn't left them, but she wasn't about to call her husband on his oh-so-obvious ploy. Not when she wanted to go back and check on Yukiko as much as he did. She tossed her priestess clothes back into her pack and the two of them bounded back down the road in the direction they'd come.

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They returned to the house only to find that it was empty except for the servants and the headman's son, who was sleeping on his pallet. Inuyasha barged right in and demanded to know where Yukiko was. When no one stepped forward to answer his question, he grabbed the nearest woman and snarled at her. She finally answered him through her fearful sobs.

"The mistress and her niece left in the direction of the river not long after you left the village. She was carrying a coil of rope and several ofudas. Please... please don't kill me," she whimpered.

"Which way?" he snarled.

"The path behind the house. It leads right to the river."

Inuyasha tossed the woman to the floor and ran from the house. Kagome followed quickly at his heels. They found the path and ran down it as fast as they could.

Kagome's head was swimming with horrible thoughts. 'If that woman hurts Yukiko, it'll be all my fault. Inuyasha warned me. What did he say? Her blood be on my hands. Oh, he was right! I saw the signs for myself and I still left her with that woman. I'm such a horrible person. Oh, Yukiko, please be okay. We're coming to help you, my baby. Just hold on.'

As they approached the river, they began to hear the faint sound of Yukiko crying, and the sound lent them extra speed. Then, just before they topped the rise where the river would be in sight, something horrible happened. The crying stopped.

"YUKIKO!" screamed Kagome, sprinting at top hanyou speed to the river. Somehow Inuyasha, got passed her and dove into the river where the little white and gold form was floating down stream. Kagome watched with her heart hammering in her chest as Inuyasha fished her out and lifted her limp body in his arms. The water wasn't deep. It only came up to his chest, but Yukiko was bound up tight in rope and plastered all over with ofudas so that she was paralyzed. Kagome couldn't see her breathing. 'Is she dead?' she thought as tears streamed down her cheeks.

A serene voice behind her startled her out of her trance, "Are you not please, miko-sama? You told me to take care of her. To do the honorable thing. She was a taint on our family line, and I have restored honor to our house. Just like I did three years ago when I slit my whore sister's throat."

Kagome whirled and looked at the woman in shock, "What?" she gasped.

"Do not tell me you have sympathy on these beasts, miko-sama. A priestess should not concern herself with such disgusting, unclean beings," replied the woman smoothly. She had a smug smile plastered on her lips as she watched Inuyasha rip the ropes from the little girl's limp body.

"You!" screamed Inuyasha, drawing his sword, "I'll kill you, bitch!"

"You should keep better control on your servant, miko-sama," said the woman, still cool as ever.

Kagome realized her hair was still up and her ears were hidden. This woman didn't realize. A deep chuckle rose unbidden to Kagome's throat, a dark wicked sort of chuckle. This stopped Inuyasha in his tracks. The woman merely smiled, mistaking Kagome's laughter for approval.

Slowly, Kagome reached up and removed the pins from her hair, letting it fall loose over her face. The woman's face went slack with shock and then her eyes widened in fear as she realized the miko she was addressing wasn't human.

"He isn't my servant," she said in a growling tone, "He's my husband... and Yukiko isn't tainted. You are the disgusting one, you bitch!" she said, snapping her head up. Her hair flipped back from her face, and Inuyasha's heart nearly stopped. Kagome's eyes were glowing red and jagged magenta markings slashed across her narrow face. Her fangs protruded wickedly from her delicate lips and her claws had gown wickedly long and sharp. Her posture communicated only one thing: murder. She was going to kill this woman, and the stupid bitch was absolutely powerless to stop her. He wished helplessly that her daggers were here to seal her blood instead of in the hollow tree where he'd hidden them.

Inuyasha moved to intercept her, but she was too fast. She had the woman pinned to the ground by her throat in less that a second. Kagome was laughing wickedly and inhaling the scent of the her fear as the woman struggled for breath.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed franticly, "Kagome, stop this. If you kill her, you're no better than she is. Please Kagome!"

"She deserves to die," said a voice that wasn't Kagome's, "Women who kill little children deserve to die... slow... agonizing...delicious..." she dragged that last word out with a wicked hiss, and emphasized it by tracing a claw along the woman's face, leaving a line of blood in it's wake.

"Kagome, no!" he screamed, as he grabbed her shoulder and tried to pull her off of the woman, but in her current state, she was far stronger than he was. She ignored him, lifting a clawed hand and preparing to strike the woman through the heart when a soft sound cut through the fog of her mind.

Soft coughing followed by, a tiny voice calling "Ka...go.. me..." very weakly, "Ka...go...me!" a little louder this time. The youkai Kagome turned to look over her shoulder at the little girl on the river band, "Kagome," she called out, that one word the most heart wrenching plea she'd ever heard. The red drained from Kagome's eyes and the markings disappeared.

She was at the child's side in the blink of an eye, leaving the other woman gasping on the ground and clutching her bruised neck, "Yukiko! You're alive. Oh, my baby, you're alive," sobbed Kagome as she kissed the little girl's face over hand over again, "You're alive! My baby, I'll never leave you again. I promise. Momma Kagome is here. I got you," She reached down and began ripping off the ofudas that still held the little girl immobile and soon the golden haired child was clutching Kagome almost as tightly as the woman clutched her, "Inuyasha, she's alive!" called Kagome joyfully, and when she looked back at her mate, she saw him tugging firmly on the rope that now held Yukiko's squalling aunt to a nearby tree.

Kagome, still cradling the little girl in her arms, stalked smoothly over to face the woman she's so recently tried to kill.

"Hmph. I guess you get to live after all. Pity. You should be grateful to Yukiko. She just saved your life," she said stiffly before sauntering off, and Inuysha thought she sounded an awful lot like his brother.

8888

Inuyasha sat on the porch of the house, his ears flat to his head in worry. What was taking so long? It had almost been a whole day!

All of the sudden, Yukiko can careening out of the house, "Daddy, daddy, daddy! It's a sister. It's a sister!" shouted the child, bouncing happily up and down as she hugged Inuyasha's neck, "Come see!" she said, grabbing his arm and dragging the man to his feet.

Just then Sango came to the door, drenched in sweat, as though she had been the one in labor, "You can come in now, Inuyasha," she said with a kind smile.

His heart thudded in his chest as he allowed his eldest daughter to lead him into the house to meet his newest. The room was dark and his eyes took a moment to adjust. When they did, he was met with the most lovely sight he'd ever seen. His wife was lying reclined on the futon. She was covered in sweat and looked absolutely exhausted, but she somehow looked more beautiful than he'd ever seen her before. Nestled at her breast was a wriggling infant, still purple skinned from the birth wearing nothing but a shock of black hair on her head, her little ears only distinguishable because the tips of them were bright white, as was a tiny forelock on the left side of her tiny face. And leaning over her mother's shoulder was Yukiko, who had just bounded up there to get another look at her new baby sister, her golden locks cascading down over Kagome's shoulder.

"Come see your daughter, Inuyasha," said Kagome softly.

"What's her name?" he asked. They had agreed that if it was a boy, he'd choose the name, but if it was a girl, the choice was hers.

"Amaya," she said, stroking the little one's cheek with her finger as she continued to nurse.

Inuyasha had to wipe two stray tears from his eyes as he sat down on the bed to share this wonderful moment with his beautiful family.


End file.
